87R9419 BDP-D
By: Beckley H.B. No. 3657
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures designed to encourage and enable certain
persons with disabilities and their families to maintain employment
in this state.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.0112(b), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The transition and employment guide must be written in
plain language and contain information specific to this state
regarding:
(1) transition services;
(2) employment and supported employment services;
(3) social security programs, including the Ticket to
Work Program authorized by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives
Improvement Act of 1999 (Pub. L. No. 106-170);
(4) community and long-term services and support,
including the option to place the student on a waiting list with a
governmental agency for public benefits available to the student,
such as a waiver program established under Section 1915(c), Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1396n(c));
(5) postsecondary educational programs and services,
including the inventory maintained by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board under Section 61.0663;
(6) information sharing with health and human services
agencies and providers;
(7) guardianship and alternatives to guardianship,
including a supported decision-making agreement under Chapter
1357, Estates Code;
(8) self-advocacy, person-directed planning, and
self-determination; [and]
(9) contact information for all relevant state
agencies;
(10) the Medicaid buy-in programs implemented under
Section 531.02444, Government Code; and
(11) other available work incentive programs.
SECTION 2. Section 531.02444, Government Code, is amended
by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (d) to
read as follows:
(a) The executive commissioner shall develop and implement:
(1) a Medicaid buy-in program for persons with
disabilities whose household incomes do not exceed 300 percent of
the applicable federal poverty level as authorized by the Ticket to
Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (Pub. L.
No. 106-170) or the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Pub. L.
No. 105-33); and
(2) as authorized by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
(Pub. L. No. 109-171), a Medicaid buy-in program for children with
disabilities [that is] described by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396a(cc)(1)
whose family incomes do not exceed 300 percent of the applicable
federal poverty level.
(b) Subject to Subsection (c), the [The] executive
commissioner shall adopt rules in accordance with federal law that
provide for:
(1) eligibility requirements for each program
described by Subsection (a); and
(2) requirements for participants in the program to
pay premiums or cost-sharing payments, subject to Subsection (c).
(d) In adopting rules under Subsection (b), the executive
commissioner may not:
(1) set a household or family income limit for
eligibility for a program described by Subsection (a)(1) or (2)
that is less than the maximum amount prescribed by Subsection (a)
for the program; or
(2) impose resource limits for eligibility for either
program.
SECTION 3. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.